


The Difference Between Two And Five

by gala_apples



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alien Culture, Gender Issues, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 04:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15111902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gala_apples/pseuds/gala_apples
Summary: Everyone Ronon hits on shies away from him. He's determined to finally find out why.





	The Difference Between Two And Five

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the genderplay prompt for seasonofkink.

Ronon can’t help but growl as Stackhouse practically sprints away from him. Not everyone knows him as well as McKay and Sheppard and Teyla but he’s lived here long enough that they shouldn’t fear him. He’s not a beast, taking what he wants to, regardless of people’s will. Stackhouse said no, Ronon heard no, so there’s no reason he had to flee.

The way he said no, though. It’s incredibly frustrating. Ronon wants to take a few swipes at an Earther with a bantos rod. What he wants more than that is answers. So he tamps down on the aggression that is so often a weapon to use, but right now would only hinder him, and heads for the mess hall.

McKay and Teyla are eating together. Once they spot him McKay raises a quick moving hand in hello as Teyla gathers her meal tighter to give him room to put his tray. Ronon likes that he’s expected. He just has higher goals right now. Instead of joining them, he heads for a longer table that Radek and other scientists have claimed. He wants the smartest people Earthers have to offer explaining this. Minus McKay of course, who will only be sarcastic. There’s another quick shuffle of lunch trays as Ronon drags a chair from the nearest empty table.

Amid a chorus of hellos, Zelenka asks “is there something we can do for you?”

“You can explain something to me.”

Down to the one, they sit up straighter and their cutlery pauses. Whatever sciency thing they think he’s going to ask, each is obviously hoping it’s their particular specialty. Scientists like explaining as much as Marines like sparring. He can also see Zelenka gloating at McKay.

“Why don’t you people understand you can have sex and relationships with any gender as long as you procreate to keep the population stable?”

For a minute no one says anything. Then Biro asks, “did you say any genders? I mean, instead of both?”

“Both means two. There’s five.”

“Is this a Pegasus thing or a Sateda thing?”

Ronon ignores both the looks at Teyla and the way more than one scientist is pulling out a tablet. “Most Pegasus cultures are very end and end. I thought the Milky Way would be better, since you have more people.”

The one scientist is practically screaming with need for Teyla to come and corroborate. He manages to hold it in and simply ask, “explain?”

“There’s... it sounds different in Satedan. In your English it’s probably woom, manan, woman, man, and... not sure. Nan?”

“Oh man, Lowe is going to shit.”

“Don’t call him here.”

“But his PHD-”

“Why do the anthropologists get to learn everything first?”

“Lowe is a linguist-”

“Not everything. But this is their-”

“I sat here because you’re smart,” Ronon says over all of them.

“Is there anything else you want to tell us?”

There’s a one-two of sound. An expulsion of air, and the scrape of a chair. Suddenly McKay’s looming over them. “You don’t need to be a biologist to know what to ask next. On Earth there are two sets of sex characteristics, dictated by XX and XY. Sometimes there are genetic mistakes, but most die. You’re telling us that Sateda has named and normalized aberrations?”

“Rodney! Be polite or go away.”

No one seems to expect that from Miko, least of all McKay. It takes him a few seconds to bluster back, “I’m merely saying-”

“He sat with us not with you for a reason.”

“Ignoring the fact that Rodney has the manners of a dinner plate, he’s got part of a point. Can you just tell us the basic differences of your spectrum first? You can’t leave us half defined. An example, maybe?”

Ronon’s willing to try. Providing examples is meeting them halfway to a reason for their weird behaviour. “Your contingent is mostly women and, well- I’d say manen but you call yourself men and I wasn’t going to say you’re not what you say you are.”

“That’s very nice of you. Difference, now,” Rodney demands. His eavesdropping intrigued him so much he didn’t even put down his fork, he’s gesturing ‘hurry up’ with it now.

“Manen have penises and scrotums. They wear pants and bare their arms. They appear impervious to hardships. They excel at battle and make others bow to their will. They are always found with a weapon, and eat mostly raw food.”

“So manen are Chuck Norris. great. Next.”

“Woom have breasts and vaginas. They wear skirts, often many layers. They rarely leave their homes, but are happy to have guests. Their goal is to please others, even at expense of themselves.”

“Woom, nineteen fifties housewives. Check. Next.”

“Women and men have a bigger range. Most wear mixed clothing; women in pants and men in sleeves. Men might cook food, women might have weapons, or argue. Some separate themselves from the end genders by going as far as trying to pass, a man as woom and a woman as manen.”

“And the fifth? You said there were five.”

“The nan are the middle of the spectrum. Some are born with whatever McKay was talking about. Genetic mistakes. But most are women and men who wish to go further. Their spirit is woom or manen and they want their bodies to match. There were pills you could take or surgeries you could have on Sateda. As far as I know there are no nan on Atlantis. Or woom. Woom would hate it here.” Ronon thinks about his sister Alliah sharing a home with a few hundred people, having to eat someone else’s cooked meals, and occasionally fighting Geni or Wraith and almost laughs. She’d hate it so much.

“An entire class of transgendered people. Theo’s gonna be so mad at us for not calling him.”

“And the other Satedans, the woom and the manen, they didn’t look down on the nan?”

Is that a joke? It doesn’t seem to be. Biro’s face is serious. Ronon explains the obvious. “Nan are body warriors. They fight their own building blocks to make things right. Manen know bravery when they see it. And woom just want everyone to be happy.”

“No, seriously, Lowe is going to murder us.”

“Thank you for sharing your culture, Ronon. But you were saying something about relationships?” Miko asks.

“Every planet understands procreation. It’s important to keep a population up. That’s why there are more woom and manen after a culling. Sex isn’t procreation. Sex is for everyone. You have a very large population on Earth, you should be having sex now. So why do all the men and manen say they don’t have sex?”

“With, with each other?” Rodney says it like Ronon’s suggesting something crazy. 

Ronon’s not in the habit of repeating himself, so he rolls his eyes at Rodney. Obviously he means with each other. Whether it’s manen like Stackhouse or men like Banks, no one seems to understand the pleasure of sex.

“Is everyone on Sateda gay?” 

Ronon sighs. He’s not sure what Rodney is asking him, it’s not translating properly, but knowing Rodney it’s a dumb question.

“What McKay means is do woom and women have sex too? And all the men and manen?”

“Answered that already. Procreation is woom and women trying to be with manen, and manen and men trying to be with woom. They’re more fertile. Sex is for everyone.”

“So Don’t Ask Don’t Tell means nothing to you?”

“McKay, I have no idea what you’re saying, so I’ll just ask. You wanna have sex?”

“I’m, I’m not gay.”

“According to Satedaen norms, neither is Ronon,” Kazinsky grins triumphantly.

“What is this, peer pressure to get me to sleep with an alien?” Rodney shrieks, half hysterical.

Ronon stands to to leave, freshly annoyed. Very little has been cleared up. All he knows now that he didn’t before is men and manen not wanting him is something to do with the Earther word gay.”

“Where are you going?” McKay asks.

“Find someone to spar with,” he says shortly. If there’s no willing opponent, he’ll go for a run, maybe. He needs to burn off the energy somehow.

“Wait, I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it!”

Ronon crosses his arms. “Sounded like it. Gay... whatever.”

“Give a genius a second to react to their whole concept of sexuality flipping after thirty years!”

Ronon raises his eyebrows. McKay is quickly running out of seconds. 

“Okay okay okay, jeez, you’re as bad as Sheppard.” At the sudden attention of the others at the table, McKay hastens to clarify. “As in, wanting five second solutions to very big problems. Not that I’ve negotiated sex with the man. I might be a Kinsey one or even two, but he is a solid zero.”

“It’s not gay in Sateda,” Johnson helpfully reminds Rodney.

“Yes, yes. Well, since we’ve already made all of this a soap opera, I might as well ask in front of an audience. Your bedroom or mine? Any cultural drama about that?”

Ronon grins. “Yours. You have back problems, you’re going to want a soft bed for what we’re about to do.”

Rodney audibly swallows. It makes Ronon smile again, on the inside. On Sateda he’d had sexual encounters with four of the five genders, and the manen/man dichotomy is one of his favourites. Wrestling and fighting another manen to orgasm can be fun, sex as a championship can feel powerful, but more than that he enjoys a man’s submission. Of course he does, it’s a defining characteristic of being manen. Knowing that Rodney will put up a verbal fight but eventually quake under his strong hands, it’s enough to make Ronon want to adjust himself. It’s going to be a good night.


End file.
